READ the book! It was written by a reporter for the New York Times, Paul Tough. He tries to be objective just as I imagine the Plain Dealer's Thomas Ott tries to be objective. [1]
But, READ it. [2] In many ways, Geoffrey Canada is Eugene Sanders--a corporate front man brought in to sell a product and to improve the bottomline, using whatever it takes.
The chapters should tell you the corporate strategy at work here--The Lottery, Unequal Childhoods, Baby College, Contamination, Battle Mode, Bad Apples, Last Chance, The Conveyor Belt, Escape Velocity, Graduation, What Would it Take?
When the learning environment, physical development/nuturing Baby College paradigm promoted by female principal Terri Grey does not generate a "quick profit," Geoffrey Canada in true corporate form, as CEO, does not accept any responsibility for the "failure," and instead dumps Grey for the KIPP trained male principal Glen Pinder. [3]
The Boston Consulting Group's "Transformation Plan," is a perverted application of the last chance corporate model applied to kids and communities--it's called cutting your losses.
But, kids are not a product and closing the schools and killing the communities that generate tax dollars for the "corporation," is NOT a solution.
The corporate-framed BCG plan is a disaster--we can lift every child up--we need to start back where Terri Grey left off. Building community. [4]
Links:
[1] http://www.cleveland.com/education
[2] http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/224441216
[3] http://www.kipp.org/
[4] http://realneo.us/content/exposing-fraud#comment-20150